Christopher Young was born in small-town New Zealand in the mid-seventies. After finishing his studies he moved to Germany in 1996 before settling in Perth, Western Australia in 2002.
Isolation is a recurring theme in his life and work – the remoteness of growing up in semi-rural New Zealand, the loneliness of living in Germany as a poor German speaker and lately the geographic and ideological seclusion of life in the purportedly most isolated city in the world, Perth, have all coloured his artistic practice.
Context, coding in images and a lack of a personal cultural library have been central themes explored in his work.
The images have always been very personal and have a therapeutic nature to them. They are typically how he works through problems or issues in his life.
Chris’ photographic artwork, Small Town, will be published, as a photographer the opportunity to publish in print is highly regarded.
Latest Update
By Christopher Young
The selection of the images for the 'Small Town' book are close to being finalised and the digitisation of sections of the work has been progressing well. I have also been working on the narrative texts.
"Robert has been in the band since it started in 1946. Now in his seventies, he still manages their extensive sheet music collection, has taught many to play over the years and regularly performs when the band struggles to get the numbers together.
Later that evening I meet five other members of the band as they rehearsed for a few hours on a cold, wet Wednesday night. They were, as every week, slowly working their way through the Salvation Army Hymn Book.
Akin to some strange code, they exchanged notes about this or that bar and what tempo a piece should be played. Instruments clashed and stumbled at times but they persevered to get what they could out of the small group."
The attached images are a selection of the brass band sub-series.
I'm planning on meeting with Paola Anselmi in November to discuss the various concepts behind 'Small Town' as well as garner feedback on the image selection. Once this has been completed an entire text will be provided to Carola Akindele-Obe for editing.
'Small Town' has since been confirmed as an exhibition at Heathcote Museum & Gallery from October 2015. The freedom of the funding has provided the opportunity to explore new ideas. These include the use of objects, found photographs, sounds and smells to render the experience more intimately.
Everything is progressing very well and thanks again for the support.
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